Over A Nice Cup of Tea
by ricetard
Summary: Toph and Zuko have tea together. Zuko/Toph, oneshot, fluff.


**Over A Nice Cup of Tea**

There was one thing in this town that Toph had always hated, no matter how much she tried to like it.

The tea. There was something wrong with the town's tea. Call her... rich girl, thick-headed, or whatever, and maybe she had been raised actually drinking _decent_ tea, but it was just disgusting. Pure filth. Whatever tea they served in the shops around here? Yeah, Toph refused to drink them.

The only tea she had ever really liked was the one that Iroh had given her that one day when they had been sitting together. And the tea in Iroh's tea shop. But since Zuko's uncle was often lazy, the tea shop didn't open until much later in the day. So when Toph wanted her tea, she couldn't drink it until the afternoons.

That is, until one day.

After polishing her ever-so-long crush on Zuko (it was hidden and _very_ discreet, because no one knew about it- no one could know that Toph was weak when it came to boys) one morning, Toph was walking down the street when she could sense aforementioned boy walking down the sidewalks with Katara. She managed to catch up with Katara, and after receiving the information required (aka, where exactly Zuko had gone when he had left), she went to go into the tea shop where apparently he was.

Zuko was sitting at a table by himself, drinking a cup of tea. Toph entered the shop, and after only ordering a pastry for her breakfast, she took it and joined Zuko at his table.

Zuko was surprised at her presence.

"Uh, Toph!" he said, shooting his head up to look at her. "What... What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't I just eat breakfast with you?" Toph ripped her pastry package open and munched on a large portion of it. "Mm. Whatcha drinkin'?"

"Green tea," Zuko grumbled, staring down at his cup. "It's the only decent tea they have here."

"Really? I don't think any of their tea is decent at all," Toph criticized, waving her pastry around and indicating the rest of the shop. "It's all full of junk and stuff. Gross. What do they make their tea out of, trash?"

"Well I wouldn't say _that_ exactly..." Zuko said uncomfortably.

"Oh, come on Zuko, you've had your uncle's tea before, right?" Toph said to him pointedly. "I mean, your uncle makes a pretty kickass tea. He should be running all the tea shops here, seriously. These all suck."

"I suppose," Zuko grumbled in agreement.

Afraid that she had said something wrong, Toph hastily rushed to correct herself. "I mean, I guess it's not _that_ bad, but I'm just saying, there's better tea out there."

ZUko stared at Toph for a long time. "How do you know so much about it?" he asked her, genuinely curious.

Toph shrugged modestly. "Eh. It happens when you grow up with a bunch of rich snobs. Some of it is bound to rub off on you."

"Yeah..." Zuko looked around for a moment. Then he had an idea, and he got up quickly from his chair. "You know, I think I can make you tea that you'll like."

"_You_? Make me tea?" While Toph had a crush on the guy, she wasn't going to let this get to her head. Seriously, Zuko wasn't perfect in _every_ sense, was he? "Since when could you make tea?"

"Hello? Remember my uncle?" Zuko grinned. "Come on, I've got the keys to the Jasmine Dragon, and I'll make you some there."

"Okay," Toph said, amused.

The two left the restaurant after paying (with no tips, of course), and then walked down the street to Zuko's uncle's shop. Zuko opened it from the back, and then they made their way to the kitchen. Toph did her best to feel around with her feet, and Zuko watched her.

"What do you think?" Zuko asked.

"I like the way it's arranged," Toph complimented. "Though the design could use a little work."

"Hey, I made the design!" Zuko said.

Toph smirked teasingly. "Yeah. It could use a little work."

Zuko went over to the counter and started pulling pots and tea leaves out. Toph watched- well, turned her head in his direction and felt and listened carefully- while Zuko prepared. "Are you making that tea for me now?"

"Yeah. I'll make you such awesome tea that it'll blow your taste buds out," Zuko said excitedly.

Toph snorted. "You sound like Sokka."

"I was trying to," Zuko said with a smirk.

Toph couldn't help blushing at this.

Zuko started up boiling the water, dangling the water-filled pot with one hand over his other hand, which had a small flame coming from his fingertips. Toph rolled her eyes, seeming to sense this.

"You're using your Firebending, aren't you?" she said to him.

Zuko grinned. "Yup."

After a little, he allowed the pot to simmer for a little and put some tea leaves in, and then started up his fire once more. Toph 'watched' on silently, her empty gaze on Zuko as she waited. Zuko felt a little uncomfortable under her stare, and faced her as he continued making the tea.

"Do you ever wonder what people look like, since you're blind?" he asked her.

"'Since I'm blind'? I know I'm blind, Zuko," Toph scoffed. "And not really, I guess. I can feel people's weight through the earth and everything, so I've got a pretty good sense of height and size and stuff. Plus, voices say a lot about people."

"But... don't you wonder what people look like? What I look like?" Zuko asked.

Toph shrugged. "I... I guess? I know you have a scar, and that you have dark hair. And since apparently all the ladies are after you, you must be pretty good-looking too," she couldn't help adding with a joke, and could even sense that Zuko blushed at this. "But even if they weren't, I'd say you were pretty good-looking."

"The ladies are after me?" Zuko asked.

Toph shrugged again. "Yeah. You know, that depressing girl, and Katara. Though I guess not Katara, since she has that whole thing with Aang..." she added thoughtfully.

"Well I'm not really with Mai anymore now," Zuko said to her. "We kind of broke up. We had never been working out that much anyways, and even though we still kind of loved each other, we knew it wasn't going to work out."

Toph didn't know if she was supposed to be happy or sad. "You guys still kind of love each other?"

"Used to. A while ago. But now I don't have any feelings for her." For some reason, Zuko suddenly turned hot. Was he blushing because of Mai? Or was it because of Toph, the way her eyes gaze at her that Zuko swore there was some emotion in them.

But then suddenly he realized that he had accidentally overheated the tea, from not paying attention for so long. He almost dropped the pot, and rested it on the counter, quickly whispering to himself, "Hot, hot, hot."

"Good job, Zuko," Toph said sarcastically, amusement hanging in her voice.

"Oh be quiet. Do you want your amazing tea or not?" Zuko asked as he looked around for some cups in the kitchen. He finally found some, and took them out.

"Only if it's amazing," Toph responded back, grinning.

Zuko poured two cups of tea for them, as Toph Earthbended a small table and two small chairs in the kitchen so they could sit. Then Zuko added a few extra tea leaves, a trick he had learned from his uncle to give them a little more spice.

He handed Toph's cup to her and then sat down, sipping out of his own cup. Good. It wasn't too hot. "Drink up," he instructed Toph.

"Yeah, yeah," Toph said, rolling her eyes and puttnig the cup to her lips. Zuko watched as she started drinking, tasting, and then swallowing. No emotion was on her face.

"Well?" he finally asked her.

Toph smacked her lips together. And then she shrugged. "It was decent," she said, settling the cup down. But when Zuko glanced down at it, he saw that it was completely empty. "May I have more, please?" she asked him.

Laughing, Zuko got up from his chair and took the pot and poured some more tea into Toph's cup, before returning back to his own seat. "I take it that you like it."

"Yeah. Well, it's better than the restaurant's tea," she remarked, a grin on her face.

They sat there in silence for a little bit. Zuko was still mulling over Toph's words. Even though she had no idea what he looked like... she seemed to think that he was good-looking? Even after his scar?

"What are you thinking about?" Toph asked, settling her cup down once again.

Zuko snapped out of his daze and shrugged. "I dunno. What... What do you think about beauty?"

"What? Inner or outer beauty?" Toph asked him.

Zuko shrugged. "Both, I guess."

"I think outer beauty reflects inner beauty," Toph answered immediately. "But not in the, oh he or she is pretty looking in the way. But if you really think someone is beautiful on the inside, you'd think they were beautiful on the outside. That's why I was never bothered about being blind. I could tell how someone was on the inside before I could see them at all. Not that I would ever be able to." She chuckled.

"So... what do you think about me?" Zuko asked her.

Toph blushed and looked down, even though she couldn't see anything at all. "I... I think you're beautiful on the inside, Zuko."

She was taken by surprise when Zuko reached over across the table and kissed her, making her drop her cup on the ground. Zuko's lips were soft and warm, and Toph didn't know what to do at first. She couldn't feel anything but the feeling of Zuko next to her, with her, on her- and then suddenly she decided to kiss back, and pressed her mouth back against Zuko's. It was a strange feeling, since she couldn't see, and she was slightly hesitant at first. But then she learned to enjoy it, and realized that she and Zuko were just here alone in the shop, and there was nothing else but the two of them and the steam coming out of the pot of tea behind them.

And for some reason, Toph thought it might have been her imagination, but Zuko's lips lingered with the scent of his tea.


End file.
